- The gist of this article
It’s that time of year again – Black Saturday – the weekend when half of France hits the road to go on vacation. At the same time, countless holidaymakers from northern Europe head home. Throw in added security and strikes, and it’s no wonder that in 2016 the French highways authority warned that for two weekends ‘almost all the big connecting arteries will be affected by long tailbacks’.
The trick is to make sure that the clogged arteries of the highway don’t have an adverse effect on your arteries. That’s because sitting stationary in a car – or indeed an office or plane – for hours can harm your vascular function.
Due to the lack of muscle contraction and movement, blood no longer flows back towards the heart when you sit still for long periods. Instead, saturated with waste products and CO2, the blood stagnates in the circulatory function. Thus pressure builds up in the lower limbs, causing leakage in the tissues. The results include swollen ankles and feet and, very often, varicose veins. (Standing for long periods, day after day, can have the same effect).
The problem is exacerbated by capillary fragility caused by a lack of OPCs and/or a diet low in roughage. That’s why the regular consumption of OPCs is important, especially as we get older.
Masquelier’s OPCs are proven to maintain the integrity of the capillaries and prevent the leakage. This was demonstrated by numerous systematic clinical tests performed during the 1960s and ‘70s in France – the home of Black Saturdays.
Black Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays…
Of course, it’s not only on Black Saturdays in France that you might find yourself stationary in a traffic jam for hours on end. As such, anybody who regularly drives on Europe’s motorways – sales people or truck drivers for instance – should maintain the integrity of their capillaries through a combination of Masquelier’s OPCs and the correct diet.
The same applies if you sit at a desk all day. We all know that we should try to get up and walk around every 20 minutes or so. But that isn’t always possible and OPCs can play a key role in preventing the health problems arising from sedentary work.
